The Last Blaze

George Ramirez rested his weary eyes for just a second. On his last shift, he allowed himself one moment of relaxation. Then he stood up and stretched, looking around him with a slight sadness. These were his last few minutes on the job; he would be retiring officially from the River City Fire Station.

To be perfectly honest with himself, George felt disappointed. Sure, the boys took him out over the weekend for a dinner at Bernie’s Grille, but he half-expected something big on his last day. As fire chief, George was like a father to the rest of the guys.

At his retirement dinner, George reminisced about his career.

“Now, you all won’t remember this, since I’ve been around much longer than you,” he started, as a few of the boys rolled their eyes jovially, “but there was one time I got really close to dying.”

One of the older men groaned, having heard the story countless times before.

Having heard the groan, George continued, “Hey, that kitten was ferocious! I nearly fell out of the tree!”

“Okay, gramps!” one said and they all chuckled loudly.

Glancing around the station, George’s eyes fell upon the various equipment and gear that had defined his life for the past three decades. His mind filled with fond memories. Good times and bad times flowed through his mind. He’d been through so much with the rest of his crew that they grew as close as family. It was hard for him to imagine what his life would be like once he retired.

His thoughts shifted to Nancy, his wife. She had been so understanding throughout his career. She accepted his long hours and helped him as he battled emotionally through the tragedies that inevitably occurred in such a high-risk field. He would be happy to spend his golden years with Nancy.

George’s birthday was next week, and they had already planned a trip together, a cruise to Alaska. Since he gave so much of his time to his job, they were both looking forward to traveling the world during his retirement.

George hung his helmet on its hook for the last time and breathed a sigh. Suddenly a sound caught George’s attention and pulled him out of his thoughts. A very familiar crackling noise came from the next room in the fire station. George’s eyes widened in fear for just a moment, as a faint glow shone on the wall before the doorway. Quickly, he grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher and pulled its pin out while he ran to the room.

Dashing inside, he quickly sprayed the fire atop his desk, not even paying any attention to the horrified group gathered around it. As the small blaze was put out, a strange silence invaded the room. Finally, a sound broke through – laughter.

George’s attention shifted from the white mess on top of the desk to his crew doubling over in laughter all around him. Gazing back at the desk, he caught the sight of some candles sticking out of the wreckage.

It seemed that George had just blown out the candles on his cake. He'd heard the joke that a person has so many candles that the fire department better stand by just in case, but this was a new one, he was sure.

With great effort, one of the boys was able to stop laughing long enough to say, “Happy Birthday, Chief!"

Word Count: 640
Written for "The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week"  [13+]
Prompt: Some of us writer's have heard the jokes about firery birthday cakes, i.e better get the fire department because there is one big fire burning on your cake...

Write a Birthday story where the fire chief is turning an age close to retirement and has a group of his best firefighters surrounding the festivities in case a disaster occurs.